Leeds City Museum, England

Leeds has a fine museum in the heart of the city that includes exhibits on the ancient world, the modern world, life on earth, and the story of Leeds. On our visit, we saw everything but the story of Leeds. We'll have to go back (without the children!). Here's what we saw.

The Leeds City Museum, with some of the 2013 Christmas Market outside

Our first stop was naturally the cafe for a snack and a bit of a warm up (we visited in late November). After that, we looked around the Life on Earth exhibit on the ground floor. The exhibit had plenty of stuffed and unstuffed animals as well as interactive exhibits that J and L enjoyed.

L interacts!

An unstuffed animal!

Upstairs is an exhibit of items collected by seven local people. The collection was wide-ranging, including Roman statuary, china porcelain, and other nicknacks.

Caligula bust

Nero bust

Stained-glass coats-of-arms

Further upstairs is the Ancient Worlds and Special Exhibitions. When we visited, the special exhibit was Through the Magic Mirror: The World of Anthony Browne, who is a Yorkshire children's author and graduate of Leeds College of Art. Plenty of children's activities were available but not many photographic opportunities, except for children who wanted to hang out in a cage with a gorilla from one of Browne's stories.

Shooting the sign for the exhibit is allowed

J tries to escape the cage!

The Ancient Worlds exhibit shows a variety of items from Rome, Greece, and Egypt.

The Wolf and Twins mosaic depicts Romulus and Remus suckled by a she-wolf. The legend goes that they were abandoned in the Tiber River but came ashore and were raised by a she-wolf. They went on to found the city of Rome. The mosaic is from the Roman ruins in Aldborough, which the Romans called Isurium Birgantum.

The Wolf and Twins, circa 300-400 AD

Some busts from that period are also on display.

Roman heads

One interactive exhibit here is archeology-based. Patrons can try to reconstruct pottery from the various bits that have been dug up.

We do this all the time at home

Another exhibit has a Roman altar used by a local family in Catterick, North Yorkshire, at the end of the second century. The inscription translates as "To the mother goddesses of the household, Julius Victor willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow for himself and his family."

Roman Altar circa 200 AD

The Greek exhibit includes various gravestones and tomb doors. The dead were washed and a coin put in their mouths to pay Charon to ferry them across the river Styx to the realm of the dead.

Greek tombstones, from 400 to 100 BC

Greek Tomb Doors circa 200 BC

This copy of the Rosetta Stone shows a decree from Pharoah Ptolemy V on taxes and putting up statues. The stone is significant because, after its discovery in the 1800s, French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion used it to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, which had been untranslatable until that time.

Copy of the Rosetta Stone, circa 196 BC

The Egpytian samplings also include a variety of jewelry and figurines.

Egyptian jewelry

Egyptian figurines

The star of the exhibit is the Nesyamun, a 3000 year-old mummy. Pictures weren't allowed but visiting the museum is worth it just to see the mummy up close. The corpse is out of the sarcophagus and many of the linens have deteriorated, leaving a spooky-looking mummy. J and L were still in the Special Exhibit, which was probably good for them. Also, Mommy and I might have a hard time explaining a mummy to them.

Bits of Ripon, England

Here's some parts of Ripon that never made it into their own posts!

Ripon is a charming market town in the heart of Yorkshire. Ripon has a Wakeman who keeps watch over the city. Every night at 9 p.m. he comes to the market square and blows his horn. The tradition has continued for over 900 years and is still done. The Wakeman also blows the horn on Thursday mornings to announce the opening of market day.

Ripon Market Square

The town hall

The Wakeman's House, now a pub

The Cenotaph in the market square is 300 years old and commemorates war heroes from many different conflicts.

The cenotaph

Just outside the square is the Spa Baths. Constructed in 1904, it serves as an indoor swimming pool to locals.

Ripon Spa Baths

Across the street is the Spa Park Maze, a 2001 recreation of an ancient turf maze destroyed in 1827. The maze (according to records) was known as the "Maiden's Bower" and probably had something to do with fertility rites.

Spa Park Maze

Beyond the maze is a playground. The kids weren't with me when I visited so there are no cute pictures of them in action.

Playground without children!

Holy Trinity Church is located on the other side of the park. It is the less famous Church of England building in Ripon (the other being the Cathedral).

Trinity Church

On the other side of town is the Victorian Clock Tower. Two sisters had this built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

Victorian Clock Tower

The other side of the tower

St. Mary Magdalen/The Leper Chapel, Ripon, England

The Church of St. Mary Magdalen sits on the edge of Ripon. The church was founded as part of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene by York Archbishop Thurstan circa AD 1115. This Norman chapel is all that remains of that original site. The hospital took care of lepers in the area (Crusaders could have brought back the disease from their travels). The sisters provided food, clothing, and shelter for the lepers. As well, they maintained a priest for the chapel. By the 14th century leprosy had mostly died out and the hospital began serving the sick and destitute of Ripon. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII, the abbot of nearby Fountains Abbey became the chaplain for the hospital. The mastership of the hospital was given to the deans at Ripon Cathedral in 1688 and they have supplied clergy for the church since then.

Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, Ripon

3/4 view

Visitors are welcome but have to get the key to the door. Some almshouses were built across the street and two of the residents have keys. The original doorway is true to the ancient Norman style.

The key to the church

The Norman door

Inside is the original Norman baptismal font, which was found in a local field. It was used as a cattle trough but was restored to the church in 1951. A new base was added.

Baptismal font

Another entrance is on the other side of the font.

Not in use

The nave of the church is separated from the choir by a fifteenth-century oak screen.

Nave

Just on the other side of the screen in the left (or northern) wall is a low window called the Leper Window. Lepers could attend Mass from outside and were able to receive communion through the window.

The Leper Window on the left

The sanctuary shows signs that statues and relics were kept there before the Reformation. One niche is clearly filled in.

A corner of the sanctuary

The stone altar is the original Norman altar, unharmed by Cromwell's Puritans except for a crack in the middle. The piscina on the south wall is also early and apparently still in use.

The Norman Altar (crack not visible)

Piscina

A small mosaic in the floor is assumed to have come from a Roman villa in Ripon that is no longer extant.

A nice mosaic

In the mid-1800s, a larger church was built across the street to serve the congregation. It was not open for visitors.

Victorian Church of St. Mary Magdalen

Ripon Spa Garden, England

The Ripon Spa Garden is a well-maintained park just outside the town square. It has something for just about every taste.

Entrance to Spa Gardens

The Ripon War Memorial is located here and has won Best War Memorial, "town class," in Yorkshire several times.

Ripon War Memorial

Close by is the statue of the Marquess of Ripon, George Frederick Robinson. He was born at 10 Downing Street in 1827 (yes, he was the son of a sitting Prime Minister). As an adult, he was known as Earl de Grey, and worked tirelessly for the good of the country. He served in Parliament and then in the War Office. He worked with Florence Nightingale to improve the lives of average soldiers and negotiated to avoid war with America over the Alabama Affair (the Alabama was a Confederate ship that received hospitality from British ports during the American Civil War; the US Government was naturally unhappy that Britain's promise of neutrality had been violated; Earl de Grey smoothed things over). He became a Roman Catholic in 1873 (a controversial move for a prominent British politician). He served as Viceroy to India in 1880. He died in 1909.

Marquess of Ripon statue

Close up

The garden has a large lawn with a Victorian Gazebo in the middle. Concerts are performed on Sunday afternoons in the summer with plenty of ground for picnicking.

The lawn

The gazebo

A mini-golf course and other fun activities are available as well as a small cafe for a cuppa and a snack.

Mini-golf with the cafe behind it

Another fun activity is the Green Man Trail. Many Green Man plaques are hidden among the trees and bushes. I only found the obvious one on a shed door. I must bring the kids next time to help in the hunt!

Green Man on the door!

Of course, the garden has plenty of well maintained flower beds and interesting trees.

Early spring crocuses

A tree in early spring before getting leaves

The most interesting tree is one that has been cut down. It was not entirely removed and Chainsaw Mick has carved several characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland on the remaining tree branches. Carroll's father was a canon at Ripon Cathedral, so young Lewis spent plenty of time in Ripon.

Alice in Wonderland carvings

Alice and the Mad Hatter

Another Green Man!

Spa Garden is worth a visit when coming to Ripon!